let’s talk about “the J word”

green with jealousy Up until recently I believed I had green eyes. (Even my driver’s license says so.) But then, my redheaded, hazel-eyed daughter insisted my eyes are blue. So, at my last optometrist appointment, I asked my doctor to confirm once and for all that my eyes are indeed green. (You know, just to set the matter to rest with an expert opinion.) Turns out, my eyes are . . . blue. Truly green eyes, according to my doctor, are rare.

Of course, there’s another kind of green eyes that isn’t so rare–the green eyes of that monster called jealousy. Now, I know I’m poking around in a touchy topic. Jealousy is, well, it’s embarrassing. It makes us feel small, immature and vulnerable. Nothing pretty about that.

Jealousy is an especially sensitive issue among children’s writers. It’s been my experience that we are an exceptionally supportive bunch. We’re not…